The complete equity method is usually required report stock in vestments the 20% to 50% range, assuming the investor has the ability to exercise significant influence over. the operating activities of the investee and effective control over the investee. In addition,a parent company may use,in its own books,the complete equity method to account for investments in subsidiaries that will be consolidated. This method is similar to the partial equity method up to a point,but it requines additional entries in most instances.
Continuing the illustration above,assume additianally that the $800,000 pur chass price exceeded the book value the underlying equity of S company by $ 100,000;and that the difference was attributed half to goodwill ($50,000) and half to an excess of market over book values of depreciabl assets ($50,000). Under current FASB regulations, goodwill would be capitalized and not amortized. The additional depreciation expense implied by the difference between market and book values,however,must still be accounted for. The depreciation of the excess, if spread over a remaining useful life of 10 year,would result in a charge has the impact of lowering the equity in subsidiary income , or increasing the equity in subsidiary loss, recorded by the parent.